Do Not Assess your English Level from UK NARIC

If you don't want to waste your time and money, do not go for NARIC English assessment. NARIC only assess C1, no higher no less. Even if your degree equals to C2, you'll get this statement, "The applicant does not meet the requirement for C1 Level". This certificate will be no use for you. You should rather sit for a B1 exam, if you are going for ILR.

That's not true, an ELA would say whether or not the degree was taught in English, that with a SoC would suffice a B1 requirement.

Can we say C1 is higher than B1,in other word having C1 is even better than B1?just asking not really sure.

Rayking wrote:Can we say C1 is higher than B1,in other word having C1 is even better than B1?just asking not really sure.

Yes its better:
A1 (lowest)
A2
B1
B2
C1
C2 (Highest)

But end of the day, you cannot be sure if NARIC is going to assess your degree equal to C1, if they don't they'll simply say, application does not meet the requirement....Here is what NARIC says:

Please note that UK NARIC is only able to assess against CEFR level C1 and the English Language Assessment will not provide information on CEFR levels that are lower or higher. UK NARIC will not be able to assess any tests, which are not included on the Home Office list of approved English language tests or provide an English language assessment of overseas degrees which are comparable to UK Master's and research degrees. Degrees must have been taught in English, with the sole exception of foreign language modules.

I had the same issue, However if you read the guidance notes of English requirements it says.

Applicant must "Hold an academic qualification recognised by UK NARIC to be equivalent to the standard of Bachelor or Masters degree or PHd in the UK , and CONFIRMED BY THEM AS TAUGHT IN ENGLISH"

Last time my Visa was refused because I only sent the letter of comparability from UK NARIC but didnt send another letter stating the Degree was taught in English.

Now I have got that letter as well from UK NARIC but wording is " The level of English language for the above degree does not meet the requirement of CEFR level C1, Although it is confirmed that English is the Medium of instruction in the teaching and examination system of the department providing this award, it is unfortunately has not been possible to confirm that the necessary English Language requirements for CEFR C1 are met upon completion. "

I am sending the new application based on above lets see what happens.

mustang390 wrote:I had the same issue, However if you read the guidance notes of English requirements it says.

Applicant must "Hold an academic qualification recognised by UK NARIC to be equivalent to the standard of Bachelor or Masters degree or PHd in the UK , and CONFIRMED BY THEM AS TAUGHT IN ENGLISH"

Last time my Visa was refused because I only sent the letter of comparability from UK NARIC but didnt send another letter stating the Degree was taught in English.

Now I have got that letter as well from UK NARIC but wording is " The level of English language for the above degree does not meet the requirement of CEFR level C1, Although it is confirmed that English is the Medium of instruction in the teaching and examination system of the department providing this award, it is unfortunately has not been possible to confirm that the necessary English Language requirements for CEFR C1 are met upon completion. "

I am sending the new application based on above lets see what happens.

Here is what UK NARIC has to say about it:

Hi X, thanks for the feedback which we’re always grateful to receive. At present we are investigating how we can develop a methodology for other CEFR levels besides C1. Please note that where an individual’s degree is not considered to meet the level of proficiency expressed for CEFR C1, there is always the option of taking one of the Home Office approved English language tests to meet this requirement. Thanks once again for your comments. With best regards, UK NARIC

If you read the Guidance its clearly says "(c) have an academic qualification recognised by UK NARIC to be equivalent to the standard of a Bachelor's or Master's degree or PhD in the UK, which was taught in English"

Bro, ukba website also says that a printout from points table which gives you points for qualification and english language, will be sufficient to prove the enlgish language part of the requirement. but I called home office and they said no it doesn't, either an english test or uk naric is required. I think I'll make my wife do a test instead. Clean an simple, no if's and no but's.

theprideofpak wrote:Bro, ukba website also says that a printout from points table which gives you points for qualification and english language, will be sufficient to prove the enlgish language part of the requirement. but I called home office and they said no it doesn't, either an english test or uk naric is required. I think I'll make my wife do a test instead. Clean an simple, no if's and no but's.

My plan is to submit the Application using UK NARIC certificates and then take the test and submit the English Test certificate as extra document, it will save time.

I've been in touch with the NARIC and according to my understanding, we need comparability report (if the degree is equal to british bachelors etc), then you get the english assessment from NARIC, this will be sufficient as your degree will be equal to Bachelors and saying the medium of teaching was in english even though NARIC doesn't assess it equal to C1, they'll still say that the degree was taught and researched in English. So I think Comparability report and english level assessment is good enough to full requirement.
I've already paid for the both and see how long does it take....hopefully I'll be able to apply before 6th April....

Can I ask you, how long did Naric take to assess your qualifications? Thanks

theprideofpak wrote:Can I ask you, how long did Naric take to assess your qualifications? Thanks

They Take the Money from your account with lightning speed then sit on your application for over 15 to 20 Days , I hope you understand what I mean.

goodness that's not fair....I think I'll have to just submit the application by post before 6th April and send the assessment later...

Beware all overseas degree holders....if you do not get any points for English language on the Home Office points based system calculator, then UK NARIC will NOT issue you with an English Language Assessment that certifies that your degree meets the requirements of CEFR level C1. You will be better off giving your £55 to charity.

I had all the evidence UK NARIC had asked for which includes the following:

1. Letter from my university that stated that the medium for instructions in my university is English and that all my modules were taught in English;
2. My transcript that showed all the modules that I studied including English Language core modules;
3. My original degree certificate; and
4. A very well written cover letter

UK NARIC took one month and then sent me a letter stating that "although it is confirmed that my degree was taught in English, there is not enough evidence to show that it meets the requirements of CEFR level C1.

You will be much better off taking an approved English lanugage test rather than wasting your time, effort and money with UK NARIC. They are running a money making scam (a charade!). I'm posting this here for the benefit of all those who need to satisfy this English language requirement as I learnt the hard way. DON'T GO TO UK NARIC.

My dear friend, although I started this thread because of the same problem as you have, but luckily they agreed that the medium of teaching was English, which is good enough, now what you have to do is to get your degree equal to uk bachelors. and you'll be fine.
what NARIC does is that they only assess the degree for C1 level only, if your degree was equal to or less than C1, they'll say that on the certificate. But at least they confirm that the degree was taught in English, which is a good sign. Now what you have to do is to get your degree equal to UK bachelors and you'll be fine.
My wife did MA English from NUML Pakistan, and we did both, degree comparability report and english assessment, where the compare it to UK bachelors, and english equal to C1 level.
but if you do get comparability report, they'll ask you to provide your Pakista/India/your home country bachelors degree/result card as well, so to save your time, attach these files before they ask you.
Hope this will be helpful for you. I've also opened a new thread for UK NARIC assessments, and requested people to share their experience and tell us which degree equals to what and if NARIC gives you English assessment or not etc....

I got english degree from one of Indonesian university and completed the study less than 5 years. So i sent my degree certificate and final transcript with their translation to UK NARIC and in may 2011 they confirmed it as comparable to British Bachelor degree standard. So i think it depends on your situation, but for me UK NARIC is my choice.